What do you think?  There was a man who had two sons.  He went to the first and said, “Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’  I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.                                                                                Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing, He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted? The first,” they answered.                                                                                                                  Jesus said to them,  “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did.  And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.  Matthew 21: 28-32 NIV

I used to think that by going to church, I was getting the job done.  The job that I am referring to is being a good, Christian person who is in close relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I had a lot to learn.  I learned that for me to get into that good, solid relationship with Jesus that I had to read my Bible and I had to pray.  I had to have a good open line of communication with Jesus Christ.  I had to read my Bible and get a word from Him.  I had to pray and talk to Him.  I had to do what He was calling me to do.

I watch a lot of true crime shows.  One thing I have noticed is that no matter under what circumstances the person may have died, people describe them as a saint once they have passed away.  One thing I take into consideration is that for their loved ones that are hurt and missing them they were a saint.  The thing that we must remember is that no matter how they lived their life here on earth, we don’t know whether they went to heaven or hell.  We don’t know if they came to Jesus and repented at some point before they died.  I think that when we get to heaven we may be surprised, not only at who made it but at who didn’t make it.

Sadly, our churches are filled with good, upstanding citizens that are headed straight for hell.  I know, I used to be one of them.  I used to park my rear on a church pew a couple hours a month and drop my tithe into the plate and figured I was good to go.

In this scripture passage, it says the prostitutes and tax collectors will get into heaven ahead of you.  Before you go bashing prostitutes, let me ask you something?  Have you ever had sex outside of marriage?  Well, don’t x out of the blog just yet, think about it. Sadly in today’s society few of us can say that we have never had sex outside of marriage. My husband and I lived together for several years, attending church regularly until God convicted us so strongly that we had to change our ways, but that’s a whole other blog. Prostitutes gets a bad rap because they get paid.  And quite honestly, most of us have sex outside of marriage for what we get out of it.  It may not be monetary, but we all get something or we wouldn’t do it, right?   And what about those tax collectors.  Well, we know that tax collectors back in those days were basically just people that stole your money under the guise of a government job. We certainly see a lot of that going on today. So, are you stealing anybody’s money?  Are you being paid to do a job and scrolling through social media or paying your bills or spending enormous amounts of time on personal phone calls while you are supposed to be working?

It’s so easy to look around and see how poorly others are doing, but the question for you is how well are you doing?  If you are in a good, close relationship with your Savior, He is calling you to do something.  Maybe He is calling you to set a better example for your co-workers.  Perhaps He is calling you to teach a Sunday School class or sing in the choir.  The question is are you getting the job done?  Maybe you are like the son that just flat out told his father no.  Will you have a change of heart and go ahead and do the work?  Maybe you are like the son who told his father yes.  Are you faking it, or are you really getting the job done?

We are not called to put on our Sunday best and go look pretty like church décor on Sunday morning.  We are called to roll our sleeves up and get to work.  Begin by entering into a close relationship and developing a good, strong line of communication with God the Father.  Listen to what He is telling you to do and do it.

God has given each and every one of us gifts and special talents to use in His work.  There is a website called giftstest.com.  You can answer a few simple questions and they will email you and let you know what your special gifts are in working for the Lord.  Your Father is calling you to come out and work in the vineyard.  It is ripe for the harvest.  By this, I mean that many people need to know their Lord and Savior and you can help them to do just that.  Get up and get to work, time is short and there is lots to do. Believe in Him, repent, and do what it is that He is calling you to do.

Have a great day!